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Monday, August 12, 2013

What is shibari? And why do you who LUV BDSM care about the real thing????

Many misconceptions abound about BDSM and the most misunderstood is the Japanese erotic art of kinbaku, derived from the honorable samurai method of restraining an enemy, shibari.

Why do I know this?

Aside from the fact that I have my MA in Chinese and Japanese history, I lived in Japan for two years.

And I have written a novel featuring a master of this art.

TIE ME DOWN, my
second in my KNIGHTS IN BLACK LEATHER series, stars Case Turner who is a
shibari master.

And just what is shibari?

Shibari, an ancient Japanese art form developed from
samurai warriors, is the act of tying someone up. But it is not simply using a
rope, tying a few knots and calling it a day. It is an expressive art form,
used by 16th and 17th century samurai who lived in a feudal society where
constant warfare among clans was the norm.

The use of tying up captured samurai from other clans was practical.
These Japanese warriors had no prisons and did not wish to build any. Warfare
in this period was fast, bloody and decisive. This meant that a samurai, who
was bound by a code called bushido (Way of the Warrior) must
honor his prisoners according to their rank.

But how could a
samurai do that with only rope as his medium?

The warriors developed a system of tying up their opponents in various
positions that would incapacitate them. The positions would also show their
subjugation to their conquerors. And to distinguish among the prisoners their
rank, the warrior created a system of knots and positions that showed to anyone
within their armies how valuable this particular prisoner was.

This system of showing honor and respect as well as social rank
transformed in the late 18th and 19th centuries into the erotic bondage
displays that today we call Kinbaku.

Just as shibari has codes of conduct, so too does Kinbaku, erotic bondage:

1. Bind the prisoner so that he/she may not
slip his bonds.

2. Bind the prisoner is such a way that you
not cause any physical or mental injury.

3. Create a result that is beautiful to
behold.

The fourth rule is optional and is at the decision of the rope master,
the Nawashi:
Do not allow others to see the process of making the knots.

A Nawashi (rope artist) ties his subject into various
poses, all of which show respect and honor to the subject and the master. The
subject must practice total submission to the Nawashi and this requires
not only practice but patience and concentration. The art of working the ropes in a demonstration can take
hours.

The result is a beautiful tableau or picture of a naked body bound in
(usually) fine jute. Binding a female, a Nawashi uses the rope and
knots to accentuate the curves and hollows of his subject’s hair, arms, legs,
toes, fingers, breasts and genitalia. The more skilled the Nawashi, the more finely
he can separate each part of his subject’s body and display it in erotic forms.
Displaying a male subject can also be done, this time displaying the male body
and even arranging the penis and testicles in artful manners. The reward of the
Nawashi
to his subject for an excellent submission and performance can be sexual
intimacy and gratification. This can be done in public or in private as part of
after care to the submissive or subject.

Among the most beautiful expressions of Kinbaku are the
separation of the female labia. This is done, as you might expect, very
carefully by expert Nawashi. The rope usually goes in some fashion around the
waist, then loops over the labia, either opening the lips to full view or
suppressing them to display their plumpness. Those Nawashi who are superbly
qualified may also spread the labia to display the clitoris. Either the
clitoris is exposed and in that exhibition gratifies the Nawashi and his subject
by protruding or it is covered and thereby stimulated in that fashion.

A female’s subject’s breasts are often bound to display their erotic
beauty. Here, they can be bound in ever so many ways with the use of a
multitude of stylized knots. All are lovely and expose the suppleness of the
breasts in marvelous artistic ways.

Comment
here and tell us if you would ever consider being bound by a shibari master!